Sen. Collins warns of texting scam

Tuesday

Oct 18, 2016 at 4:00 PMOct 18, 2016 at 4:00 PM

WASHINGTON — Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee, is warning seniors of a new phishing scam.

Con artists send a text message that appears to have been sent from a well-known financial institution — such as a bank or a mortgage company — alerting potential victims of “suspicious activity” on their accounts and directing them to contact the bank. Customers who respond are asked to provide personal identifying information the criminals then use to open new accounts or invade the victims’ existing accounts.

Collins said she was alerted to the scam by numerous Maine seniors reporting these calls to the Senate Aging Committee Fraud Hotline at (855) 303-9470.

Collins recommends you never respond to a text message that requests personal or financial information. Although many banks often send messages from SMS short numbers for alerts, they will never ask for personal or financial information in a text message.

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